Johnson - the right man but not the right now man.

Let’s be honest, who of us when offered the job to lead our country to a World Cup would have the objectivity and personal awareness to turn it down,  if we weren’t really ready. If you had been the only Captain of your country to hold aloft the Webb Ellis trophy would you doubt your ability to inspire? The simple answer is none of us. In my view Johnsons failing is not that he was not the man for the job, it was that he was not the man for the job now.

I remember the first time I met Martin Johnson. It was in a gym in Leicester, the Tigers used a weights gym up at the running track and Johnson appeared complete with a fairly brutal scar to his shoulder where he had had surgery. Even then he was a bit of a glarer. I think all good second rows have a bit of the red mist glare about them.  All great rugby players need presence and Johnson had it. Although presence isn’t enough to make a World Cup captain, you need determination and heart.

 I remember a subsequent time at the track that really spelt out the nature of Johnson. We arrived to run some 200 meter training runs, Johnson had already run 10, 400 meter runs on his own and asked if he could join us. We chatted walking up to the line and then bang he was gone full tilt, nothing held back, we over took him as we should as a combination of backs and back row players. However each run became closer and closer. Until the last few runs only the fastest of backs were beating him. The guy was seriously fit and had an unnatural determination to succeed. This is probably why he was the first English captain to raise the trophy and why everyone now knows his name and not that of the other people training that day.

This determination for excellence ran through pretty much all of Johnson’s career, matched to his loyalty – he was a one club player – and his natural leadership he was bound for success. But his history should have told him there were no short cuts. Just as he put in extra training at the track so he really needed time to learn how to coach. Many of his colleagues decided to do just that, Neil Back went with the Leicester 2^nd team Coach Andy Key to Leeds and learnt his trade there. He applied his knowledge of fitness levels to the team that took them to the Premiership. Probably the most successful is Richard Cockerill who has in many ways followed a full apprenticeship. Going abroad to France first and then coming back to Leicester and proving to be far more cerebral as a coach than his aggressive pitch persona would suggest.

Johnson had none of this training; he had to rely on the coaches already there to fill his CV gaps. Unfortunately with the exception of Rowntree, the rest were really not up to the job. Johnsons other problem was one of detachment. Many of his squad were friends from his playing days. How do you tell an old friend they are now not good enough for the squad when a few years earlier you were their Captain telling them they were the best in the world? If Johnson had followed Cockerill’s example and given himself space and time, he may have found the clear head required of a coach. It was uncomfortably obvious to most that Johnson found this detachment difficult as he continued to pick Borthwick as Captain. Borthwick a typically whole hearted bloke but who was to international captaincy what Fenton was to one man and his dog.

I hope Johnson goes away and learns his trade at a good club level, maybe abroad. Then gradually comes back to the international fold, perhaps as the forwards coach. He has much to give back but not just yet.